Lodging an appeal

Practicalities

Precondition: submission of an administrative complaint to the Secretary General or Governor, with the option of requesting a referral to the Advisory Committee on Disputes (Article 59 of the Staff Regulations)

After the administrative complaint has been rejected: lodging of an appeal with the Tribunal’s registry (Article 60 of the Staff Regulations)

Procedure

Languages: English or French

Costs:

No deposit

No costs. If, however, the Tribunal finds there has been an abuse of procedure, it may order the appellant to pay all or part of the costs (Article 11, paragraph 3 of the Tribunal’s Statute)

Four steps:

Lodging the appeal

Items to be submitted:

a) Form (appended to the Rules of Procedure)

b) Grounds for the appeal

The appellant can submit these either: in full or in the form of a summary with supplementary pleadings to be filed later

Persons entitled to lodge appeals can request permission to intervene in the case in order to support the submissions of one of the parties (Article 10 of the Tribunal’s Statute)

Decision

Three types of decisions:

Judgment on the merits

Summarises the proceedings and facts

Gives reasons (parties’ submissions and Tribunal’s assessment))

Sets out the operative provisions

Key features of Tribunal decisions

Reached by a majority vote

No indication of the votes cast

No separate opinions

No appeals

Binding on the parties as soon as they are delivered

Operative part of the decision

May annul the act complained of

May order payment of a claim (unlimited jurisdiction in pecuniary disputes, Article 60 of the Staff Regulations)

May award compensation

May include an order for costs (on request)

Execution of decisions

Tribunal to be informed within thirty days by the Secretary General

If the Secretary General considers that execution is likely to cause serious internal difficulties, the Tribunal fixes the sum to be paid to the appellant by way of compensation (Article 60 paragraph 7 of the Staff Regulations)

Judgment or order to strike a case off the list (striking out)

a. When the appellant expresses the wish to withdraw his/her appeal ; or

b. When the circumstances, in particular the appellant’s failure to provide information requested or to observe time-limits set, lead to the conclusion that he/she does not intend to pursue the appeal.

Appeals may be restored to the list if the circumstances so warrant.

Decision to strike out

Made via:

A judgment of the Tribunal or

An order of the Chair following a report to the judges, who have 60 days in which to raise any objections